False Choices on the Basis of Simpleton Arguments

The tyrant Duterte and his followers keep on dumbing down the Filipino people. To have their way on major issues, they always put forward false choices on the basis of simpleton arguments that are grossly contrary to facts.

They argue that the Philippines has no choice but to engage China and its companies in exploring and exploiting the oil and gas resources in the West Philippine Sea because the Philippines has no expertise in such field.

This is a blatantly false choice against the sovereign rights of he Filipino people because the Philippines as owner of the resources can choose to muster its own experts and hire any of so many oil exploration and exploitation companies which are far superior to Chinese expertise and which do not belong to China which seeks to usurp ownership of the West Philippine Sea.

There are plenty of oil and gas exploration and exploitation companies in Europe from which the Philippines can choose the best possible in terms of proven expertise in undersea energy exploration and exploitation as in the North Sea.

They accept Philippine sovereign ownership of the resources in the West Philippine Sea and enjoy the protection of international law, support of the international community of nations and even ab initio the implied protection of the NATO to checkmate any Chinese threat of aggression.

By stating the above, I have disposed of another simpleton argument of Duterte and his followers that the Philippines has to give up or lay aside its legal victory in the Permanent Arbitration Court in accordance with the UNCLOS and let China do what it pleases to take over and militarize the West Philippine Sea because to assert Philippine sovereign rights over the natural resources in said sea would invite an aggressive attack from China.

Duterte and his followers make obviously simpleton arguments that are in fact treasonous and cowardly but are also blatantly indicative of self-interest and corruption in dealing with China and the Chinese banks and companies. They are apparently already enjoying payoffs in advance.

Most benefited by the treasonous sell-out on the Philippine side are Duterte and his front man Dennis Uy and Gloria M. Arroyo and her front man Enrique Razon to whom she gave 75 per cent of the concession area in the vicinity of Recto Bank.

In campaigning for the presidency, Duterte denounced his predecessors as protectors of the illegal drug trade and being guilty of all forms of corruption and he touted himself as the absolute enemy of illegal drugs and corruption.

It turns out that Duterte and his own son and son-in-law are the biggest protectors and smugglers in the illegal drug trade. It is fair to say that he has become the supreme drug overlord. The drug problem has worsened under the Duterte regime. Duterte has ordered the mass murder of street-level drug addicts but he is protecting the drug lords that now submit to him as supreme overlord and protector.

As regards to corruption, the Office of the President is at the peak of a stinking hierarchy of corruption among civilian and military officials. Duterte has shamelessly exposed himself as in cahoots with the biggest Luzon-based plunderers, like the Marcos, Arroyo and Estrada families, which helped him win the elections with money and their bailiwick votes.

And, of course, there can be no bigger corruption than the treasonous sell-out of the sovereign rights of the Filipino people over the oil, gas and other resources in the West Philippine Sea. These resources, if not sold out could fund the industrial development of the Philippines as the NDFP proposes in its draft of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms.

Instead of engaging in peace negotiations with the NDFP in order to arrive at social, economic and political reforms to lay the basis for a just and lasting peace, Duterte and his followers use the argument that they must carry out a purely military solution because the NDFP refuses to give up the people’s demands and surrender to the tyrannical, traitorous, brutal, corrupt and mendacious Duterte regime.

Duterte and his followers condemn the unitary form of government as the cause of all evils in the Philippines and they propose federalism as the solution to all problems. But in fact, they are pushing for a bogus kind of federalism, which allows Duterte to institutionalize a fascist dictatorship ala Marcos, concentrate all powers in his hands and handpick his regional agents among the warlords and dynasties in the regions and provinces.

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Based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, The Philippine Reporter (print edition) is a Toronto Filipino newspaper publishing since March 1989.
It carries Philippine news and community news and feature stories about Filipinos in Canada and the U.S.